Wood Dragon 1988

^Agreed. Though I didn't do East Coast, I think it is great future trips will probably be limited to one bus. I am a shy person and got to know probably about half the bus in just five days. It was awesome!

I'm liking them, esepcailly for the buzz bars that seem to be in every other row! But, why not all rows is the question?

As much as I say I hate the offseason, it is just fine in my eyes. Around my area the parks are usually open from April to October, and seven months is certainly enough time to spend money and get my fill of coasters. The offseason is a time for resting, working, going to school, enjoying the hollidays, etc. As I look out my window at snow right now, I have no real worries about not riding a coaster for five months or so.

Evil Duck on X:/WTF gets my vote. Good show all around though!!

This seems to be so old, but I still have only done 1/4 of the TR. Need to work on my speed. So here is Kennywood part II. Voodoo Bayou was the first maze we did. The park made coaster and rapid enthusiasts quite happy, by placing this maze actually inside the regular rapids ride's trench! Was quite an amazing concept, and I only kept thinking what would happen if the water started gushing in "Ten Commandments" style. Would have made the maze a lot scarier for one, as it wasn't that good. Overall, just a cool theme and awesome unique location, but not much of a maze. Me and Thunderbolt, my favorite wooden coaster at Kennywood. Matt before the ride: "I don't think this is a squishy ride, is it?" Dude, this IS your local park, right!? Ah, mine at last. After going to three parks with these Potato Patch fries available, and never braving the long lines to purchase them, I finally got my hands on these famous greasy things. Pretty good, not the best fries I've ever had, but pretty good. Perhaps if it wasn't for the fake cheddar cheese.... Dark Shadow, I guess this was the maze that was by the kid section. Captain Skully's was a maze equip with 3d glasses. I have came to the conclusion that most 3d things fail, as was the case here. It was just too bright inside to be scary. Racer was closed if anyone was wondering. I rode it last year and wasn't too impressed, and still only have half the credit. Perhaps some people reading this know what Jack Rabbit is famous for? Just a guess. Fear Festival really wasn't a maze, but more of a "scare zone" in proper Halloween coaster geek lingo. From what I remember it was in the middle of the park and involved clowns, correct me if I'm wrong. It was pretty cool to walk around at least. Don't know why I took a pic of this, but I did I guess. Yea clowns were there. Enterprise. Obligation. The lone Kennywood credit I lack. This guy was THE MAN!!! He started off by juggling these glow in the dark bowling pins or something. Then he broke out the flaming torches of death! Seriously, this juggling show was very dangerous and impressive, and all done right there in the queue line for random rides. This was a great touch to Kennywood's Halloween event. Anyone who was on the Behemoth/East Coast trips knows these are all over the state of Pennsylvania!! While waiting in line for a maze, we passed right by where some of Kennywood's rides go to sleep for the winter. Another maze. This was so two weeks ago, so I have no idea what the maze was like! I SWEAR there was this old scary movie on this screen, and when I took a picture of it, it disappeared! Magic! Cool looking covering to a building. This, like much of Kennywood's Halloween stuff, looked completely temporary. Shows that they go the extra mile for their Halloween event. Goodnight Kennywood, and I will be back! Seriously, I think this is probably the best non-Florida Halloween event on the East Coast. Probably the most fun I've had at a Halloween event, because we got to do both mazes and rides, both of which were amazing. Perhaps the only downfall to Kennywood is that getting to and from the park seems to always result in traffic of some kind. For me, it this was the sight for seemingly miles getting both in and out of Kennywood. Perhaps it was due to road construction (shocker for Western PA), but it was certainly a humbling way to end a great night. Got me ready for another humbling experience the next day. More on that in my next update. Thanks for reading.

Great report. I liked Dorney a lot, and I would agree with your assessment that it is currently run better than KD and not quite as good as CW (if that was your assessment, it kind of looks like it though ) Billy Joel is THE MAN. I feel old saying that but HE IS!!! I am very appreciative of it! Unfortunately when I went to Dorney last year I didn’t know I liked them so much. Just one of many enterprise credits I need to enjoy at some point in life… Dude, what genius attire!! Seriously, the best two parks of Pennsylvania, in one wardrobe, awesome!!

Hey all. I'm not sure how much has been made of this news around TPR, but I thought I should do my own little ode/TR to one of the absolute best perks in any park I've been to. I'm sure most people reading this knows Busch Gardens Europe as one of the best themed amusement parks in the world. Enthusiasts rave about their rides, the beauty of their landscaping, and the quality of the overall park experience. Not many US parks outside of Orlando can offer as much quality as Busch Gardens Europe does. At least for me, one of the more "hidden gems" the park has to offer was the two Anheuser-Busch "Brewmaster's Clubs" in its Ireland and Germany sections. We all know that BGE is owned by a beer company, but did you know you could also sample Busch beer and/or learn about it included in the price of admission? I had the chance to go to BGE last weekend and went to the Brewmasters Club for the first time. Even me as a lowley 19-year-old can enjoy what the club has to offer. Free fruit, cheese, crackers, and a great presentation is offered to all guests, both of-age and under-age. Guests 21 and over have the opportunity to sample 5 of Anheuser-Busch's best beers FOR FREE with the price of park admission. For the past few years, you were able to actually do this twice in the same visit. Just make a reservation in Ireland at Grogan's Grill, or in Germany at Festaus, and you could get two presentations. The Grogan's Grill's club closed unexpectedly a few weeks ago, and rumor has it that Germany's Brewmasters club may be closed forever at season's end on Sunday. It makes since, I guess. Brewmaster's Club was nothing more than an advertisement for Anheuser-Busch's products. If/when the park gets sold to a company that probably doesn't produce beer, its existence will be worthless. I, for one, will be sad if one or both of the Brewmaster's Clubs do indeed close. They were certainly unique, at least in the US, as not many theme parks have places like them. This is the sign in side of Irelands Grogan's Grill. The regular restaurant is still open, but the Brewmaster's Club is "closed indefinitely." This Brewmaster's Club, inside of Germany's Festaus was still open. There's me in front of it, with my green band of shame meaning I can't drink in there. It was still a great experience. You're greeted with lots of different types of Busch beer here. I'm pretty sure almost all of this stuff you can sample. Not all is the best, but some of the best Anheuser-Busch had to offer I'm sure. Remember, you used to be able to sample 10 beers per day- free with the price of admission!! Yea, so you look at that menu, and you tell that nice presenter lady what you want. Then she goes off explaining some wacky yet entertaining stuff about beer. She seemed to be very knowlegable, but I am not the biggest beer expert. See, good free stuff even for us minors. Sooo much better than free Hershey's chocolate at the end of the chocolate tour . I'll end my post with a few pics of the menu. Bye Brewmasters, I will miss you if you go!!!

Well, I would think El Toro and Kingda Ka are two very big reasons why I only rode Medusa once this year, and I thought it was very smooth, yet needed some paint. I think this is a good idea though, and as DaveH said, it should get its ridership up a bit.

Wow, surprised Apollo's isn't in the top ten there. Thought it was better than both Behemoth and Nitro, but to each his own. Definitely agree with your top coaster though

Just curious, does Thunder Dolphin kind of ride like Millineum Force? Big but really forceless?

Dang, when will people stop complaining about living in the most densely populated roller coaster country in the world

Anything to improve an already great coaster is a welcomed sight! The BEST thing they could do is extend the series of bunny-hops at the end to make it a little longer. Those hops are great, but extremely short. However, redoing the first drop and part of the second seems like a logical choice. The first drop is the only part of the ride that is border-line rough IMO. Although most of the ride's Arrowness will be gone if this is true, that is not neccessarily a bad thing

Just learned that a current rumor around BGE is the new "Grovers Alpine Tours" coaster will be the first B&M junior coaster. I don't believe it, but it's a rumor I guess.

What's up everyone? Last weekend I had the opportunity to visit two of the oldest and best amusement parks in the US. Matt (MS13) from the Behemoth trip wanted to do Kennywood this year, and I wanted to as well, having just moving into a university close by a month ago. So we decided to hook up one last time to ride rides, get scared, and reminisce about the greatness that was the Behemoth trip. I figured since I was as close as I will be to Cedar Point for a while, I may as well go and make a "quick" credit run at "America's Rockin' Roller Coast" while I was there. Matt unfortunately had an urgent calling from the good folks at Burger King, so he had to miss out on the Cedar Point fun , which actually was a good thing for him probably, but more on that later! I ended up having a great time, and didn't spend TOO much money. I rode some great rides, got scared out of my mind, ate some good food, watched some amazing juggling, waited in a few queue lines, got lost in the rural roads of Pennsylvania a time or two, slept at a few service stations on the Ohio Turnpike.........etc. I did make a bit of a revelation following the trip: I realized how privileged I was on the TPR trip, and how much of a hassel amusement park going and credit-seeking can be without the aid of ERT, lunches, lodging, transport, etc. Even a two day, two park trip can be so hard to plan and execute on your own. Oh well, on to the photos: I will conclude the first half of the Kennywood report with a nice pic of Matt and..........themeing :0 Part two of Kennywood and Cedar Point coming soon! Or in this case, they effectively "removed" the themeing to make an incredibly kick-ass spinning mouse! I guess with PPN being more of a teenage and adult event, Kennywood thought they would take Exterminator up a few notches by making the indoor room pitch-dark! I have never been on a darker roller coaster than Exterminator that night, and only a few haunted houses can rival its darkness. This worked great, and Exterminator was one of the best rides I rode that weekend. Kennywood really goes the extra mile in themeing up the park for Phantom Fright Nights. I've now been to five Halloween events and Kennywood's is by far the best for both atmosphere and mazes. I'll get to the mazes later. Me and the Phantom. I swear, no more pics of anything that has to do with Phantoms for the rest of this TR :0 Kennywood likes their arrows. So, the rest of the pics from the Kennywood half of this TR will be dark, because....well...they don't open the park until 7 in October! So, I tried my best to capture the atmosphere and some of the special Fright Night attractions in the next few pics. Time for our ride on Phatom...under a navy blue sky. Now where the fun begins! Kennywood park begins with a long tunnel. They do their best to scare the sh!t out of you in this tunnel on Fright Nights. It wasn't quite dark when Matt and I walked through it this year, but that didn't stop guests from walking as slowly and cautiously as possible! Two Phantoms Stealing a TPR trick. :0 One last through the leaves shot. Noted! First sign of Phantom Fright Nights. Got to love Kennywood's entrance. Looks like it would be fun to ride that one day. One more pic of Phantom....for now. Pitt Fall through the trees. Damn you ride for being closed all night. Including an exclusive "Through the Pine Trees" shot! I was there a bit early, so expect a bunch of pictures of Phantom You would think we were in Europe with an escalator of that size! Now we must be really close Fast-forward about three hours and ten wrong turns later, and we are almost at the zoo!......er Kennywood! First time to load up on some real cheap gas in Western Maryland! I haven't seen gas that low in a long time!

Also, the Behemoth trip was about $1000. There will be two small trips like that next year if you are looking for something more inexpensive

These unique coasters are exactly the kind of things I would like to have for family coasters. The ride looks okay, but I just hope it will be reliable.

Far too generous rating for Hershey's chocolate. One of the worst products to build an empire, besides McDonalds

^^As bad as the lines were, I went to this event on a Saturday last year and they were that much worse! I only got to ride six rides I believe. I was there the same day too, and I got to ride, like eleven or something. I never understood why the park isn't open in the day time too, but it kind of makes since because they don't have to focus on any day time themeing or employment. If/when I go next year I may be even less concerned about the rides, because I've been on most of them (but Exterminator in the dark was just so good), and should be able to enjoy the haunts even more. Regardless, the haunts were still by far the best I've seen, and I've now been to PKDs, SFAs, CPs, and Kennywoods.

Honest question. When do you think the park will receive another major addition? I hope you read my post about that being sarcasm. But the park received......a top spin in 2005, a coaster in 2006, three water park attractions in 2007, a coaster in 2008, and three flats in 2009. To me those are all major additions, and there is no reason to believe they won't continue to receive them. It was primarily all the "ZOMG B&M mega, Intamin Hyper, Intamin Plug&Play 2010, LOCK" speculations that made me enter this discussion, while there has been nothing rumored or confirmed to even start speculating at this point.

This seems like my exact list For me, I rode Raptor, last Saturday night....well worth the hour-plus wait for my first ride on it.

Good news. Hopefully this means more fun on the Scandi tour next year This seems like a great way to expand the park, as it looks so cluttered alredy.

Defunct coasters in the raw is a genius idea.....and no I'm not just trying to suck up to raw. And Jungala looks amazing, I can't imagine an Arrow Corkscrew was better.

Hmmm, glad I made the update!! As far as more attention, I think anyone in the park that day would agree that Kennywood gets quite enough attention. The park was quite crowded. Oh yea, good pictures, Matt. I think even you have questioned your photo-taking ability in the past, but that 10 megapixel camera seemed to come through for you that night.

^^ I don't know, I would say S&S and Vekoma are about on the same level in right now. It is probably easier to market a 120 degree, inverting coaster to the GP, opposed to a traditional wooden coaster anyway. Not that the El Loco would be a better addition, but perhaps easier to market, and maintain and stuff.

fixed it a bit. Good show, Big Mike.